Australian politician comes off second best after crossing a kangaroo in national capital

CANBERRA, Australia – An Australian politician taking his morning jog through the national capital has come off second best after crossing a kangaroo.

Shane Rattenbury, a minister in the Australian Capital Territory government, which administers the city of Canberra, says he was running on a sidewalk Thursday and was only seconds away from a collision when he saw the eastern gray kangaroo at the end of a hedge grazing on a front lawn.

Rattenbury says the 1.4-meter (4-foot-7) kangaroo knocked him to the concrete sidewalk, the claws of its powerful hind legs drawing blood with two scratches to his left leg. His right leg was painfully bruised by the sidewalk.

Rattenbury says the roo "was last seen hopping off into the distance quite comfortably."